There are few things more frustrating in business than putting in good new technology or software systems, and seeing them fail because your people will not use them.
The industry failure rate for new implementations is estimated to be greater than 50 percent, which is, quite a bit of wasted time, energy and money. This massive cost is the result of various factors, including uneven project management, unclear expectations, poor management commitment to new systems, and incomplete or ineffective training and guidance for end users.
There is one type of training that is about knowledge or skills. There is another type of training that is about attitudes. This is the work of selling the choice to behave differently. Or, more succinctly… people gotta wanna, and the trainer’s work is the work of helping them wanna.
The problem:
Software and technology implementation projects fail because end-users do not reach a critical point of buy-in.
There are few things more frustrating in business than putting in good new technology or software systems, and seeing them fail because your people will not use them.
Examples
You have calculated the value proposition of a great new system for customer relationship management, and invested in a database system guaranteed to improve sales and relationship management. But only 40% of your sales people are using the software, and the ROI is not materializing….
You’ve installed a web conferencing system solve your company communication problems, and trained your whole staff, in all of your locations, on how to use it. They hardly ever use it, and now they can’t remember how it works.
You’ve bought all your managers top-of-the-line PDAs, but only a few are using them. The rest leave them in their desk drawers and carry their cell phones.
Your new competency-based performance management software cost a fortune. However, after full training on how to use it, appraisals are not coming in, or you are getting them in everything from Excel to hardcopy. Managers say that no one ever trained them properly on the program.
The size of the problem?
The industry failure rate for new implementations is estimated to be greater than 50 percent.
The cost of the problem?
As high as the cost of 50% of new tech and software implementations.
Contributory causes:
- uneven project management,
- unclear expectations,
- poor management commitment to new systems,
- incomplete or ineffective training and guidance for end users.
The biggest cause:
Failures in forecasting and contingency planning
Well that’s it for now. This is just a look at how bad this problem is. Don’t worry, I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking and practicing some solutions to these issues as well. My next post will look at some of the training and planning implications of these problems, and then finally, I’ll have a post talking about some of the steps to help create buy-in.
You can read the whole series on Creating Buy-In for New Software and Technologies here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
